‘The anonymous quote is BS’: Epic boss rejects claims about ‘slow’ Disney sign-off for Fortnite collaborations
Fortnite’s Disney universe is not expected to be released before fall 2026, it’s claimed
Epic Games boss Tim Sweeney has rejected claims that some executives at the company are unhappy with the speed of decision-making at Disney.
The companies have a longstanding working relationship, having collaborated on numerous projects together, and are currently in the process of creating a Disney universe connected to Fortnite.
Citing people said to be familiar with the situation, the Wall Street Journal recently claimed that “some Epic executives have complained about the slow pace of the decision-making at Disney, with signoffs needed from so many different divisions.”
“The anonymous quote is BS,” Sweeney wrote on X. “The speed of Disney and Epic collaborations like Darth Vader has been awesome and is around 10x the ordinary speed of media company dealings in this business. We even provided a statement to the writer of this article saying so, but they chose not to print it.”
Epic has previously contributed Unreal Engine technology for use in Disney theme park rides and Star Wars movies, while Fortnite has played home to Disney season collaborations and live events, including the Marvel Nexus War with Galactus, which attracted over 15.3 million concurrent players.
This working relationship was deepened in early 2024 when Disney made a $1.5 billion investment to acquire an equity stake in Epic.
At the same time, it was announced that the companies were partnering to create an “all-new games and entertainment universe” connected to Fortnite.
“In addition to being a world-class games experience and interoperating with Fortnite, the new persistent universe will offer a multitude of opportunities for consumers to play, watch, shop and engage with content, characters and stories from Disney, Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar and more,” Disney said.
A prominent Fortnite insider claimed in February that Fortnite’s Disney universe had moved to a “stable” build.
According to the WSJ report, the Fortnite Disney universe is internally codenamed ‘Bulldog’ and isn’t scheduled to launch before fall 2026.
It’s being overseen by Josh D’Amaro, head of Disney’s parks and resorts. He’s said to be on a shortlist of internal candidates to take over from current CEO Bob Iger, who is expected to name a successor early next year.
